RTI Requests

shri mata vaishnodevi shrine board was established in 1985 ,by then governor of  jammu kashmir- shri Jagmohan.

The board did a commendable job building infrastructure along the path to Vaishnodevi ji cave from the base camp katra town. New tiled path was laid down, various buildings were erected at bhawan and in katra town to facilitate pilgrims.Promises of further developmental works were made within and around katra town.

As soon as Sh. Jagmohan was transferred, the board begin to show its ugly head.

lands were acquired by them in and around katra forcibly, paying compensation in fractions of what the actual value of land was. Those acquisitions were made for building dharamshalas( public purpose) . Here is the fact…there is no such dharamshala run by the board in and around katra town which offers free lodging facilities to pilgrims. Trikuta bhawan, niharika bhawan and other so called dharamshalas erected by shrine board charge the pilgrims for boarding and lodging.

Donations by pilgrims run into crores, be it cash ,gold or silver. No public declaration of donations received has ever been done by the board. In fact, gold and silver is sent to the mint and coins thus minted are sold in souvenier shops owned by board and so are the various clothing received in the form of offerings from pilgrims. A better use could be distributing the same among pilgrims.

Number of shops owned by the board from holy cave till katra town are rented to public via tenders. The tendering procedure is veiled for vested interests ..while the rent runs into crores per annum…all going in the board’s kitty

Recently, we came to know that the trikuta hills which house the vaishnodevi cave have been bought by shrine board from forest department. Please make it clear if any such procedure exists… In turn, a part of the hills was leased by board to jammu kashmir minerals dept. for magnesite mining. It poses a grave danger to the hills as well as flora and fauna of the region. No environment ministery can pass such orders keeping the faith of crores of devotees at stake.

A motorable road is being constructed by the board which will lead directly to bhawan.  additional shops, hotels and restaurants on the way can rake in some extra moolah for the board(the original idea behind it)The hills have been permanently damaged by this unnecessary act.once again, all environmental norms have been kept at bay. Requests by locals to stop the work have fallen to deaf ears.

The board also proposed to charge a fee for yatra slip which is provided free of cost. The proposal considered allotting 3 types of yatra slips and depending upon the amount paid, one could go for quicker darshan (high charge) Opposition from locals, pilgrims and media coverage put it to an end.

Recently, a Spiritual growth centre was opened by board. There is nothing spiritual about it. It is a kind of community centre which is rented by the board charging 50,000 rupees a day. Since the land was acquired for public purpose,hence the name spiritual growth centre.

It seems an eternal sense of greed has settled in the roots of shrine board and it has deviated from its path. It is not ready to invest public money for public purposes. It has been happening for long now and the people need to be made aware of these facts. Nothing was done for development of katra by the board as assured initially. 9 devian, a spiritual spot around 5 kms away from katra town is another acquisition made by board. Since many pilgrims were visiting the place, board saw another opportunity here ( more money)

I want to stand up and ask every minute detail of  donations, money earned via rents and money put into public purposes by the board. But its dangerous for me as the board has become a semi-government with an anti-katra stand. No wonder its called ‘crime board” here.